First Night Worcester

First things first. "My goal is to have something festive and fun with an element of surprise," said First Night Worcester Executive Director Howard McGinn.

By Richard Duckett TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

First things first.

"My goal is to have something festive and fun with an element of surprise," said First Night Worcester Executive Director Howard McGinn.

All will unfold - and be revealed - beginning at 3 p.m. Dec. 31 as First Night Worcester 2013, a celebration of the arts and the community, gets under way at locations such as City Hall Plaza and Mechanics Hall and runs until midnight to welcome in the New Year.

"I think we've been able to do that," McGinn said of devising fun festivities and surprises as he sat in his office at the First Night headquarters on Pleasant Street recently. This is his debut First Night as the private nonprofit organization's executive director, and like any organizer there was also the factor of the unknown to be concerned about. "How is it going?" he was asked. "I'll tell you in a week," McGinn replied.

First Night Worcester 2013 - the 31st First Night Worcester celebration, making it the second oldest such event in the country - will combine local and national talent, and familiar and new faces. Midnight fireworks return after being absent in 2010 and 2011, and there will be a new procession route and gathering place for First Night revelers to watch the displays (there will also be evening fireworks around 7:45 p.m.). There aren't quite as many venues or performers as some First Nights past, but First Night Worcester has also created a new venue with a live music tent at City Hall Plaza and is taking full advantage of the new Worcester Common Oval to have ice skating all through the festivities up to midnight.

There is no opening ceremony, per se, as "things are opening at 3 p.m. at multiple venues," McGinn said. "There is plenty going on right from three o'clock to midnight, so there will be plenty to do."

Here are some samplings: (For details, go to www.firstnightworcester.org.)

At the stroke of three o'clock, AudioBody, who have been described as combining "techno-comedy with sibling rivalry" (or "Blue Man group meets the Smothers Brothers") will take the stage at the Great Hall at Mechanics Hall. McGinn said they were a very popular attraction at their First Night Worcester appearance last year, with people having to be turned away because the venue was full. One floor down in Mechanics Hall at Washburn Hall, youth dancers from Ballet Arts Worcester, fresh from a successful performance of "The Nutcracker," will grace the stage.At Epworth United Methodist Church, 64 Salisbury St., activities include face painting, hands-on projects put on by the EcoTarium, a live animal show, storytelling and illusion, poetry readings and youth musicians from the Pakachoag Music School of Greater Worcester and the Joy of Music Program.

A "Multicultural Festival" at Alden Memorial Hall at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, which has become a First Night Worcester tradition, will include diverse ethnic food and performances from musicians, singers and dancers representing African, Indian, Irish, Latin American, and Polish heritages, and several others.

The Dan Butterworth Marionette and Joy of Music Program Orchestra will be at Trinity Lutheran Church, 73 Lancaster St., and performance artists Industrial Sonic Echo will perform at the Worcester Art Museum (there will also be a scavenger hunt going on at the museum).

As they have every year for First Night Worcester, the Synchro-Maids at the YWCA, One Salem Square, will take to the water at 4 p.m. for an amazing demonstration of synchronized swimming.

At the Worcester Common Oval a skate show will precede community skating for people wearing First Night Worcester buttons. People can also have their photos taken with Orson, the Polar Beverages mascot. Inside the (heated) tent nearby there will be performances from 3 to 11:45 p.m. by Thea Hopkins (Americana roots music), The Bee's Knees (pop), Grupo Fantasia (Caribbean and Latin American music), Li'l Bee Dee & the Doo-Rites (rockabilly, rhythm and blues) and The Numbskulls (rock).

Outside the Worcester Art Museum from about 6 to 6:45 p.m. there will be a laser show. Some spectacular visuals are being promised.

"That's one of the things people are not gonna want to miss," McGinn said.

Then around 7 p.m. the plan is for First Night revelers to gather at City Hall Plaza for a short speaking program that will include remarks by Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray. Next there will be a procession (with Lt. Gov. Murray, a former president of the board of First Night Worcester, as its grand marshal) taking people to a new extension of Front Street that is scheduled to have opened just earlier in the day. From there people will watch the first fireworks display of the night set off from Bell Hill (although the fireworks can also be seen at many spots around the city).Beginning at 8 p.m., a second round of performances will continue to around 11:45 p.m., when there will be another gathering at City Hall Plaza, a second laser show, another procession, countdown (with Dale LePage as MC) and midnight fireworks.

The evening entertainment includes Juggle This, with the duo of Stephen King and Ryan Dekoe combining comedy, juggling and other stunts in Mechanics Hall in their first First Night Worcester appearance. "It will be a lot of fun," King said.

The headline event of the night is two sets beginning at 10 p.m. in Mechanics Hall by Worcester native, actress and now singer-songwriter Alicia Witt. When Witt was told recently that her return journey was already generating quite a buzz, she said "That means a lot. I'm so excited about the thought of that."

Tickets to Witt's performances are $15, $20 and $35 (VIP), but also include a free First Night button. Buttons (which get you into all other First Night Worcester events for free) are $7; $10 at the door.

That's a price considerably lower than previous years. "I can't imagine that for $7 you wouldn't leave feeling you had a good time. Kids 7 and under are free," McGinn said.

Another goal was to make First Night a little "different."

"It's certainly different than a lot of things we've done in the past. I would say to people who haven't been to First Night in a few years - come and give it a whirl, come and give it a shot," McGinn said.

One "surprise" element that will likely remain an unknown right up to First Night Worcester 2013 is the weather. Dec. 31 2011 was exceptionally mild. Other years, the elements have been less kind and more true to the term "frigid.""I hope people come and have a good time, and we're praying for good weather," McGinn said. "You can't control that, right? It is what it is. If it's like last year -no complaints, but we go on no matter what. We don't cancel. We'll be here, and we hope everyone else is, too."

Come Jan. 1, McGinn knows what he'll be doing in his capacity as First Night Worcester executive director. "I'll be driving Alicia Witt to the airport," he said.

Then, he and the First Night board will "take a breather. Assess what went well, and what we can improve upon."